Bad Event Coordinators

[Comuniello36]

Hey IAll!!

I am a freshman at the University of Notre Dame who is actually from NY. I've competed in the Western Long Island Regional 6 times (twice in Div B and four times in Div C) as well as the NYS Science Olympiad four times (two times in each division). I have also served as an event supervisor in the Div B competition while competing at the Div C level.

To be perfectly honest, this past year without Science Olympiad has been pretty boring so I'm trying to take on a new task. It is my intention to host a regional competition at the University of Notre Dame as soon as next year (2012). However, before I approach the university and ask for its permission, I wanted to see if you had any information that you think I should know.

I come from a regional where I compete in a single Division C competition where 70+ teams compete for 7 spots to the state tournament. I'd love to know what you all love about your regionals and wish could be improved on! I truly feel that UND would be great for a SciOly competition and I want to see if you feel the same way! Please post! I promise to read!

Your Fellow Science Olympaid (and hopefully Regional Coordinator),
M. Comuniello

[eta150]

I see it all the time at my regionals - feel like i could probably be a better judge.

Fact is there are some BADDDDD judges at my regional, and probably at a lot of other regionals. Maybe even at states, and as for nats...well i've never been there but id assume based on hearing what other people have to say.

Share your experiences, and i have 1 final question to conclude. How can i deal with a bad judge for something like an event clarification?

So many stories.
At nationals last year, the experimental design judge used peanuts
3 years ago, in BLG, the judge broke my glider that had top 2 potential, finished 5th.
One time in middle school, before I got there, we were announced to have taken second and made nationals during the medal ceremony. Afterwords, the event coordinator used the FAQs (which is against the rules) to decide that we were second tiered. We were replaced.
Same thing happened several years ago at my current high school, with disastrous results, and a total loss of work ethic that we still haven't recovered from.
In truth, though, the best way to deal with a reasonable event coordinator (especially in building events) when dealing with appeals and clarifications, is:
a) when seeing another team break a rule, ask if what they're doing is allowed.
b) if they say a building event supposedly doesn't make specs, finish competing, leave the device with the judge for safekeeping and to make sure they know you didn't tamper with it, and see a coach.
c) if they won't see reason, go straight to the top. Unless your state supervisor is spineless (like ours sometimes seems to be), they should know what to do, and help correct the problem.
d) whining and pushing the issue never helps.

of course I don't know if you can appeal if two kids are lying under a table with cameras in scrambler (funny story from states), but you should probably tell someone about that too.

[Flavorflav]

I see it all the time at my regionals - feel like i could probably be a better judge.

Fact is there are some BADDDDD judges at my regional, and probably at a lot of other regionals. Maybe even at states, and as for nats...well i've never been there but id assume based on hearing what other people have to say.

Share your experiences, and i have 1 final question to conclude. How can i deal with a bad judge for something like an event clarification?

So many stories.
One time in middle school, before I got there, we were announced to have taken second and made nationals during the medal ceremony. Afterwords, the event coordinator used the FAQs (which is against the rules) to decide that we were second tiered. We were replaced.
Same thing happened several years ago at my current high school, with disastrous results, and a total loss of work ethic that we still haven't recovered from.

Against what rules? In NY, coordinators are required to abide by the FAQs, as long as they are published to SOINC at least two weeks prior to the competition.

[purplepeopleeater]

I'd love to know what you all love about your regionals and wish could be improved on!

Lol-- WELL What i LOVE about Regionals-- College and graduate material --> TO BE CHALLENGED. what i hated, ahhhh we went to one of the many Texas Regionals, and i know these people are volunteering their time, but it is REALLY annoying when they don't know the rules, or follow them (we filed TONS of appeals). just read this thread and DONT do what people say annoys them
speaking of, i just got back (2 weeks ago) from a competition, and there was a SciCri (crimebusters) proctor that as soon as we got in he said "take off your safety gear, you won't need it, you don't need your bins and if your notes have any thing TYPED or PRINTED you may not use them."
we were like WTH?!?! it was multiple choice, NOTHING to do with SciCri NOTHING! anyway, it was INSANE and oh yes, everything was in british english with poor grammar. annoying (tyre Fibre etc.)
we got 16 out of 32..

[smartkid222]

Hey IAll!!

I am a freshman at the University of Notre Dame who is actually from NY. I've competed in the Western Long Island Regional 6 times (twice in Div B and four times in Div C) as well as the NYS Science Olympiad four times (two times in each division). I have also served as an event supervisor in the Div B competition while competing at the Div C level.

To be perfectly honest, this past year without Science Olympiad has been pretty boring so I'm trying to take on a new task. It is my intention to host a regional competition at the University of Notre Dame as soon as next year (2012). However, before I approach the university and ask for its permission, I wanted to see if you had any information that you think I should know.

I come from a regional where I compete in a single Division C competition where 70+ teams compete for 7 spots to the state tournament. I'd love to know what you all love about your regionals and wish could be improved on! I truly feel that UND would be great for a SciOly competition and I want to see if you feel the same way! Please post! I promise to read!

Your Fellow Science Olympaid (and hopefully Regional Coordinator),
M. Comuniello

Your post somehow reminded me of this: http://www.scioly.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=2231. Perhaps you can ask deltahat for his or her opinion.

good luck!

[Gillen]

At regionals last year, the environmental chem judge brought an ecology test, so they had to throw it out. It was one of my best events, and with 12 points separating 4th and 7th, it could have made the difference in who made state (with the top 4 going).
At state three years ago, the amphibians and reptiles judge showed up about two hours after events started. Needless to say a ton of people were really angry.

[chalker]

Hey IAll!!

I am a freshman at the University of Notre Dame who is actually from NY. I've competed in the Western Long Island Regional 6 times (twice in Div B and four times in Div C) as well as the NYS Science Olympiad four times (two times in each division). I have also served as an event supervisor in the Div B competition while competing at the Div C level.

To be perfectly honest, this past year without Science Olympiad has been pretty boring so I'm trying to take on a new task. It is my intention to host a regional competition at the University of Notre Dame as soon as next year (2012). However, before I approach the university and ask for its permission, I wanted to see if you had any information that you think I should know.

I come from a regional where I compete in a single Division C competition where 70+ teams compete for 7 spots to the state tournament. I'd love to know what you all love about your regionals and wish could be improved on! I truly feel that UND would be great for a SciOly competition and I want to see if you feel the same way! Please post! I promise to read!

Your Fellow Science Olympaid (and hopefully Regional Coordinator),
M. Comuniello

M. Comuniello:

You should contact the Indiana State Director, Tina Gilliland (mgillila@indiana.edu) if you are interested in holding a tournament. You can also check out the Indiana SO website at: https://www.indianascienceolympiad.org/index.cfm

[lllazar]

I feel bad that my regional is so easy....it's not that our team is great, actually we're pretty bad as a whole, but every other school just has such bad work ethic - it helps our team that we have a few REALLY dedicated people, like 2 or three, but hey that's 7 events right there which you basically get 1st in.

I don't what i would do if i couldn't go to state because everyone on my team was lazy...ahh well, scio has its advantages and disadvantages.

[soccerkid812]

What do you do if there is a problem with a building event, like towers?
Towers can break during the process of testing them, so should someone test it anyways and then tell the supervisor/coach or not test it at all?
If you test it, and the tower breaks, you cannot go back later and see if it meets specs because it is already broken.

[dholdgreve]

Event Coordinators are no different than the competitors... The vast majority understand the rules, and really make an effort to educate themselves... I've run many events in both B and C, and by no means profess to know as much about the events as some of the teams, but I at least want to know the event well enough to not embarrass myself. Now take a minute and look at the flip side of the coin. How many times, after spending countless hours in the shop building a sand dispenser and testing aparatus to use at an upcoming competition, have I have "competitors" come in with bridges that were 5 CM too short, and couldn't even be tested? Kids with Boomilevers that had to be weighed on the sand scale because the gram scale wouldn't read high enough? Kids that rolled their boom in on wagon, because it was too heavy to carry! Kids that show up to forensics without any goggles or aprons... It can be just as disheartening to the event coordinator that spends hours prepping for an event, then proctoring an event where the kids have obviously not even looked at the rules... There are exceptions on both sides of this discussion.